By changing the forwarding decision of a network, a network user can decrease the cost of using the network, or otherwise enhance the load distribution of the network. One approach to decreasing the cost of using the network is for a person to periodically intervene and adjust the forwarding decisions of the network.
Unfortunately, manually adjusting the forwarding decisions of particular network nodes is an imperfect solution. First, manual adjustments are labor intensive. Second, manual adjustments are slow. Because of the dynamic nature of network traffic, manual adjustments that may have had the result of decreasing cost at one point in time may not have the effect of decreasing cost at a later time—or worse, even increase the cost.
Another difficulty with adjusting forwarding decisions is that monetary billing structures can be complicated, such as when the monetary billing structure is not flat. Particularly when multiple monetary billing structures (e.g., of multiple providers such as internet service providers) of multiple links are considered with the dynamic nature of network traffic, correctly adjusting forwarding decisions while attempting to decrease the cost of using the network can present a significant challenge.
What is needed is an effective solution for adjusting the load distribution in a network, for example to decrease the cost of using the network.